Hi Folks,

With winter finally arriving in our area, Elaine and I visited several of
the ponds along the Patapsco River in northern Anne Arundel Co. this morning
to see what ducks might have show up.  We found most of the usual suspects,
but missed N. Shovelers, as the ponds where they are usually found were iced
over.  The rundown:

    Pond 14 (easternmost pond along Belle Grove Rd., accessible from VFW
club, about 50% open)
Great Black-backed Gull--1

    Pond 13 (next to above, accessible via park service gate off of Belle
Grove Rd.; mostly open water)
Great Blue Heron--1
Bald Eagle--adult pair sitting on Osprey nest atop power line stantion (may
be the pair that have built a new nest near SWAP--see not below)
Great Black-backed Gull--1

    Pond 12 (same acces as #13; about 60% open)
Canada Goose--71
Mallard--2
Pied-billed Grebe--1
DC Cormorant--2

    Pond 11 (Nursery Rd., just west of B&A Blvd; this pond is tidal, as are
the previous three, and the water level was extremely low this morning):
Gadwall--1 male
Mallard--129
Green-winged Teal--25
Red-shouldered Hawk--2
Killdeer--6

    Pond 10 (accessed from Barkwood Ct., off of Nursery Rd.; a thin layer of
ice covered the entire pond)
Canada Goose--2
Wood Duck--1 male
Mallard--6
Ring-billed Gull--40

    Pond 9 (viewed from Oregon Business Park, off of Nursery Rd.)--totally
iced over, with no waterbirds

    Pond 6 (off of River Rd., just west of Nursery Rd.):
Hooded Merganser--4 (3m 1f)

    We also drove through Southwest Area Park (in Balt. Co.) and the tide
was so low that there was no open water visible from the road, only a mass
of tire-and-junk-strewn mud with a narrow channel running through it.

    During the afternoon, Elaine and I visited Fort Armistead, which sits
under the west end of the Key Bridge.  The Patapsco here isn't nearly frozen
enough to attract interesting ducks.  We saw:

Black Duck--1
Mallard--5
Lesser Scaup--5
Bufflehead--a few dozen
Common Goldeneye--1 male
DC Cormorant--3 or 4
RB Gull--a few hundred
Herring Gull--3
GBB Gull--several dozen

    Brian Sykes reported to me yesterday that he had just visited a new Bald
Eagle nest not far from Southwest Area Park.  Elaine and I drove by this
morning, and could see the nest as we were driving north on B&A Blvd,
shortly after crossing the Patapsco River into Baltimore Co.  The nest is in
a tree in the back yard of one of the houses on Delaware Ave., very close to
I-895 (harbor Tunnel Thruway).  It can be seen from many different vantage
points, and from a great distance.

Regards to all,

Stan Arnold
Glen Burnie